BANKET,a South African mining term, applied to the beds of auriferous conglomerate, chiefly occurring in the Witwatersrand gold-fields (see Gold). The name was given to these beds from their resemblance to a sweetmeat, known in Dutch as "banket," resembling almond hard-bake. The word is the same as "banquet," and is derived ultimately from "bank" or "bench," meaning table-feast, hence applied to any delicacy or to various kinds of confectionery, a use now obsolete in English.